There has been a need for an effective, simple and inexpensive apparatus for compressing a flowable material out of a collapsible dispensing tube. There has been a need for an apparatus wherein the material may be uniformly and substantially completely compressed from the closed end of the tube to the outlet of the tube.
Various attempts have been made in the past to produce such an apparatus including those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,148,321--Oplinger; U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,579--Woldorf; U.S. Pat. No. 2,643,029--Chapman et al; U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,736--Schneider; U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,238--Borkenhagen et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,727--Spears; U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,727 Shmelkin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,345--McCombs, as well as U.K. Patent 974,849 and Swedish Patent 124,759.